Tenthlining a Record of Appeal
The Record of Appeal is the document that advocates prepare when challenging a trial court decision at the Court of Appeal. Getting the formatting right — including the tenth lining — is a practical prerequisite to getting the document accepted at the registry.
What is a Record of Appeal?
A Record of Appeal is the compiled bundle of documents from the proceedings in the lower court — typically the High Court or a subordinate court — that the appellate court uses to review the matter. It commonly includes the pleadings, the proceedings (typed record of what was said in court), judgments, and any documentary exhibits that were admitted.
Records of Appeal can be extensive. A single matter may produce multiple volumes, each running to hundreds of pages.
Why tenth lining matters for a Record of Appeal
During the hearing of an appeal, advocates and the bench need to navigate the record efficiently. Rather than referring to paragraphs — which can vary in length and may differ across copies — the court uses the tenth-line numbering to locate passages with precision. The bench can open Volume II at page 45 and go directly to line 30 without searching.
The registry checks that submitted documents comply with formatting requirements before accepting them. A Record of Appeal submitted without proper line numbering may be returned.
Preparing to tenth line a Record of Appeal with WakiliGO
Before you start, collect the following information for each volume you intend to process:
- The exact court name (e.g. IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF KENYA AT NAIROBI)
- The case reference number (e.g. CIVIL APPEAL NO. 450 OF 2026)
- The appellant's name
- The respondent's name
- The document type (e.g. RECORD OF APPEAL VOLUME I)
- The page count for the volume
Save each volume of the Record of Appeal as a separate PDF file, one file per volume.
Processing each volume
Open the WakiliGO tenth lining tool and follow these steps for each volume:
- Upload the PDF for that volume.
- Enter the court name, case number, parties, document type (including the volume number), and page count.
- Click to start processing. The tool adds line numbers at every tenth line in the right-hand margin.
- Pay KSh 500 via M-Pesa or card through Paystack.
- Download the stamped PDF for that volume.
- Repeat for the next volume.
Each volume is a separate bundle and incurs a separate KSh 500 fee. After processing all volumes, you will have a set of stamped PDFs ready for printing and filing.
Note on disbursement billing
Each bundle comes with a disbursement receipt. If the Record of Appeal has three volumes, you will have three receipts — one for each KSh 500 payment. These can all be included in your bill of costs or client invoice as separate disbursement line items.
Tenthline your Record of Appeal
Process a PDF online — KSh 500 per volume.